Schooling with Learning: The Effect of Free Primary Education and Mother Tongue Instruction Reforms in Ethiopia

97 Pages Posted: 20 Jan 2017 Last revised: 26 Apr 2019

See all articles by Luke Chicoine

Luke Chicoine

Amazon; Bates College; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: June 21, 2018

Abstract

In developing regions, significant increases in primary school enrollment are often generated by large national level programs, which could simultaneously promote overcrowding and reductions in education quality. In a difference-in-differences framework, this paper exploits geographic variation in pre-reform levels of schooling and the timing of the policy changes in Ethiopia to examine the impact of both removing school fees and introducing mother tongue instruction in the early 1990s. The two reforms lead to a net increase of approximately 0.7 years of school. Further evidence suggests that the additional enrollment also led to an increase in literacy, knowledge of family planning material from newspapers and magazines, knowledge of HIV, and the likelihood of knowing a location for HIV testing. These increases occur without a concurrent increase in reading, suggesting an improved ability to identify and retain information. However, the positive returns were generated by the removal of school fees. The introduction of mother tongue instruction led to a reduction in schooling and had no impact on literacy; consequences that were most severe in regions that introduced the new language of instruction in a script that was rarely used prior to the reform.

Keywords: free primary education; schooling; literacy

JEL Classification: O55, I25, I28

Suggested Citation

Chicoine, Luke and Chicoine, Luke, Schooling with Learning: The Effect of Free Primary Education and Mother Tongue Instruction Reforms in Ethiopia (June 21, 2018). Economics of Education Review, 69: 94-107., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2773281 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2773281

Bates College ( email )

Lewiston, ME 04240
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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